If ye will fear the Lord... — The English Version has missed the point of the original Hebrew of this passage. It should run, “If ye will fear the Lord, &c.,... and if both ye and the king that reigneth over you will follow the Lord your God, it shall be well with you.” Dean Payne Smith has well caught the spirit of the passage in his note: “Samuel piled up one upon another the conditions of their happiness, and then from the depth of his emotion breaks off, leaving the blessed consequences of their obedience unsaid.” The intense wish, “O that you would only fear the Lord! O that you and your king would only continue following!” is contained in the Hebrew particle which introduces these ejaculatory sentences. A similar unfinished sentence will be found in St. Luke 19:42, where the apodosis is left to be supplied.
Samuel, with mournful earnestness, would drive home to the hearts of the people and their new king the great truth that the past, full of sin and sorrow, was forgiven — that even their present act, which seemed to border on ingratitude to that Mighty One who deigned to concern Himself with the interests of this fickle people, would bring no evil consequences in its track, if only the people and their king would in the future obey the glorious voice of the Eternal.